"I don't see how it could have happened," said Mrs. Bunker. "He was in the
yard playing, a little while ago. The next time I looked he was gone.
Where did the balloon come from, Rose?"

"Mun Bun bought the balloon!" said the little girl.

"He _bought_ it?" cried Norah and Mrs. Bunker.

"Yes, it's a five-cent one. He had five cents that Jerry Simms gave him,
Mun had, and he bought the balloon, and it had a long string to it, and it
got caught up in a tree--the balloon did--and Mun Bun's got hold of the
string and he won't come away, 'cause if he does he'll maybe break the
string and the balloon and----"

Rose had to stop, she was so out of breath, but she had told all there was
need to tell.

Mrs. Bunker and Norah, who had reached the street and could look down and
see Mun Bun standing under a tree not far away, came to a sudden stop.

"And then the little darlin' isn't caught up by a German airship?" asked
the cook.

"No. It's just a balloon he bought with the five cents Jerry gave him,"
explained Rose, "and it's caught in a tree, and----"

"I see how it is," said Mrs. Bunker, and she laughed. "Mun Bun doesn't
want to come away without his toy balloon. We must get it for him, Norah!"

"Sure, that we will! The saints be praised he isn't flyin' above the